Hi,

I have wondered about this question for many years. The stars we see locally are fairly evenly spread. But are the old dead star systems of the past evenly spread amongst us as well?

Our very average star is not going to end its life with a big bang but more of a whimper, fade and eventually go cold.

If we move forward 5 billion years then our star and all those like it around us will have faded and died. They will still be there, complete with planetary systems, but they will not be visible.

The same can be said of stars that began their life 5 billion years before our star was born. So along with the nearest 100 visible stars are there another 200 invisible ones?

This is my first post so please be gentle!

• Or failed suns - aqualung - January 15, 2004 - 07:42 UTC